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February/March Lite Mapping Challenge: The Land of Silver and Golden Apples

Howdy all. Allow me to add my name to the growing list of lite challenge entrants for the month. My map will depict a fantasy land populated by a number of places/people/features of old folk tales. It will be a hand-drawn map, possibly in a similar style to my Guildpark Zoo map (in the Feb 2014 challenge), although things might change as I get more ideas.

I was also thinking of trying to show the way that Puss in Boots has engineered all of the tales in my map to have their correct ending (eg. he told the woodcutter about the wolf impersonating Little Red Riding Hood’s grandmother; he told the princess she had to remain silent for years to save her brothers who had been turned into swans; he led the prince to Rapunzel’s tower; he urged Sinbad to go on another adventure, and so forth).

My initial sketch has been attached to this post (and unfortunately it isn't very dark/clear at this stage).

As always, I welcome your comments and suggestions, feedback and questions.

THW

PS: I’m drawing the map on A3 paper, but my scanner can only do A4 or smaller. I’m gonna try and stitch the two sides of the page together in photoshop but does anyone know of other options/techniques?

Do you have a good camera? When I have to scan things larger than my scanner, I place them on the floor with several lights illuminating them, then take a photo. I have a pretty good camera (and a tripod), so the result is almost as good as a scanned image.

@Raptori, I have an OK camera, but I'm not a great photographer, and I don't have the setup for a well-lit shot. It's hard to see the photography approach working, but thanks for the suggestion.

@madcowchef, to be honest, I don't know the story that well, but I couldn't resist the house on chicken legs. I liked your drawing of her house, by the way.

@The_Buce, I also have a cat, and can say with some authority that CATS ARE THE GREATEST THINGS IN THE UNIVERSE. And yeah, they definitely engineer whole worlds to suit them.

So, here's the latest update. The island at the far west has been completed (I might add a village or two, and maybe some trees), and part of the western coast. It is the land of the Luckchild (from a Russian folk tale).

Here's the latest progress on the map. I've had to post it as four separate images, because I still haven't figured out the best way to stitch them together.

It is a map depicting many of the stories that we are all familiar with, but the central story to it all is this (abridged): a clever cat was caught fishing from the Erl King's pond. He was taken before the king, and began telling a story (like all fae-folk, the Erl King loves stories). To cut a long story short, he tricked the erl king, and stole the king's seven-league boots, which allowed him to travel across the land, seven leagues for every stride. The erl king, in his fury, unleashed the Wild Hunt, to catch, kill, and skin the cat, but the animal was too clever. Using his new-found speed, he ensured stories would take place everywhere, to distract the hunters, and buy himself some time. Thus, he led the woodsman to the house where the wolf was impersonating an old woman, he warned the three billy goats about the troll under the bridge, he wrecked a ship on the rocks, where mermaids swam, and so forth. Every time the hunters thought they had caught up with him, he would be one step (and seven leagues) ahead.

Comments welcome, as always.

THW

EDIT: the order of the images goes first image=top right; second image=top left; third image=bottom left; fourth image=bottom right. There's a lot of overlap between each, which I hoped would make them easier to stitch.